Aar-d2

A few in-progress shots. The legs being modified; the "whole" leg is fitted with a platform to fit the only parrot mini I can find.

The vest is made from felt and the hat was made by an acquaintance; the hat still needs shaping.

I've just given the body and legs a coat of grey in order to cover up the putty from showing through the white paint still to come but I have a nasty seam still showing in an obvious viewing angle.

First completed pic

Here's the result of the last month of off-and-on (seemingly mostly off) work of my entry for the Western Regional Finals: Arr2-D2.

The inspiration was a drawing That I posted earlier of a "Pirate R2-D2" called "Aar2-D2" on the "Set Phasers to LOL" section of the Cheezburger Network; the home of the LOLcats. I remembered an old R2 model build I had from the original model release in 1977, making this model 35 years old and definitely worse for wear in all that time. It didn't take much to tear it apart, rebuild and repair where necessary. The most radical change was chopping off one "foot" and making a peg leg as per the drawing. I stripped all the chrome except for the dome. Painting was a bit hurried, but I wasn't going for a technically fine finish. After all... he IS a pirate and less in perfect shape!

Part of the peg leg was a piece of wood cut to size and shaped into a taper. The peg part of the leg was a modified Shaker-style post from Michaels. The vest and eyepatch are simple felt cut to size; the eyepatch cord is pinstriping tape.

The parrot is from a Jungle playset. While a bit large and with partially deployed wings, I build a small platform to help sit it on Aar2. Finally, the hat was made by my ex-wife, who kindly agreed to assist me with this part of the project.

While Aar2 did not win in his category, he DID win a Special Award - the "Rib-Tickler" award for best humorous entry! I was told that "this entry was SOOO bad (pun-wise), it was painful!" LOL! That means I DID succeed in my attempt for all-out comedy!

It was hard to get all-around good pics of Aar2 at the show and even on the workbench. I'll get some better pics done tomorrow or so and post them then.